Important Classical Figures Flashcards
Mars
Italian god of war and the most important god after Jupiter. He was equated with the Greek God Ares and consequently regarded as the son of Juno – the equivalent of the Greek goddess Hera. He was also connected with architecture.
Marsyas
a satyr or silneus, associated with the Marsyas river. He picked up the flute which the goddess Athene ad thrown away and became a proficient player, challenging Apollo to a musical contest. He lost, and Marsyas was flayed alive. The river sprang from his blood or from the tears of his mourners.
Medusa
one of the three Gorgons, and the only mortal one. Anyone who looked at her was turned to stone. Killed by Perseus.
Melpomene
the Greek Muse of tragedy
Menelaus
king of Sparta and younger brother of Agamemnon. Husband of Helen, and starts the expedition to recover her. In the Iliad, he tries to settle the war by duelling with Paris and overwhelms him, but the latter is rescued by Aphrodite. He also appears in the Odyssey, reconciled with Helen.
Mercury
in Roman religion, the son of Maia and Jupiter. The god of trade, particularly the corn-trade. He was identified with the Greek god Hermes, and thus also shown to be the god of eloquent speech and represented carrying a herald’s staff.
Midas
legendary king of Phrygia who wished that all he touch might turn to gold – when he realised this applied to food as well he asked to be relieved of this gift. He was told to wash in the river Pactolus - which ever since has contained sands of gold.
Minerva
In Roman mythology, Italian goddess of crafts and trade guilds. One of the great Capitoline triad (with Jupiter and Juno). Virgil presents her as a goddess of war as well as of crafts).
Minos
a king of Crete. To defeat his brothers for the throne, he promised to Poseidon he would kill a bull (who was in fact his mother transformed) – he did not and as such Poseidon cursed his wife (see below). In the Odyssey, he is portrayed as a just leader who became a judge of the dead in the Underworld.
Minotaur
a creature with the body of a man and head of a bull, dwelling at the centre of the Labyrinth. A result of Poseidon cursing Minos’ wife Pashipae to lust after bulls. Killed by Theseus.
Morpheus
son of Hypnos (Sleep). The Greek god of dreams.
Muses
the 9 daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory) – the goddesses of literature, music, and dance (and later of all intellectual pursuits. Artists felt a particularly strong bond to the Muses, attributing them with causing their own gifts.
Narcissus
a beautiful youth, son of the river god Cephisus. The nyph Echo fell in love with him but was rejected – as punishment for his cruelty, Aphordite made him fall in love with his own image reflected in water leading to his despair; he wasted away until he died, and the gods changed him into a flower of the same name.
Nemesis
a daughter of Nyx (Night) and the personification of righteous anger (particularly that of the gods at humans). According to some legends she laid the egg out of which Helen of Troy was hatched.
Neptune
ancient Italian god of the water. Under Greek influence he became a sea-god, identified with Poseidon
Nereids
the sea-maidens/sea-nymphs, the 50 daughters of Nereus, often accompanying Poseidon. Known to be helpful to sailors. Thetis, mother of Achilles, is a Nereid. They symbolise the beauty of the sea.
Nessus
a famous centaur killed by Heracles – his tainted blood in turn killed Heracles.
Nestor
king of Pylos. He lived to a great age – in the Iliad he is represented as having outlived two generations whilst retaining his own health. He is seen as an elder statesman, with much anecdotal long winded advice. In the Odyssey he entertains Telemachus (Odysseus’ son).
Niobe
daughter of Tantalus, mother of six (or seven) children; boasted of her superiority to the goddess Leto, who had only children. Apollo and Artemis then killed all of Niobe’s children - Niobe wept for them until she turned into a column of stone on Mount Siphylus.
Odysseus
or Ulysses – the son of Laertes (king of Ithaca). Originally a suitor of Helen, but then married Penelope (daughter of Icarius, king of Sparta). When Helen was taken to Troy, he had to go due to his oath. His story of returning home is told in the Odyssey. When he returned, he appeased his enemy Poseidon (god of the sea) by building a shrine and sacrificing animals there.
Oedipus
the son of Laius (king of Thebes). Supposed to have been killed on Mount Cithaeron but instead given by a servant to a shepherd, who gave them to Polybus (king of Corinth) and Merope his queen, who brought him up as their own. He was told he would marry his mother and kill his father – he decided never to return to Corinth. By change he met Laius whom he killed after a quarrel, married his mother and had four children. When it was discovered that he had married his mother, she hung herself and Oedipus blinded himself.
Oenone
nymph of Mound Ida near Troy, loved by Paris before he knew that he was a prince. She tried to persuade him not to sail to Greece, as she had prophetic powers and knew the outcome. When Paris was shot, he appealed to her to help but she refused – soon after she repented, but he was already dead. In her grief, she hanged herself.
Olympus
the highest mountain in Greece, believed to be where the 12 gods had built their houses (by the god Hephaestus) with Zeus occupying the summit
Orestes
son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Brother of Iphigeneia and Electra. He killed his more Clytemnestra and her lover and was driven mad by the Furies for this. Electra nurses him whilst they await punishment for their crime (death sentence is expected). Menelaus and Helen, on their way home from Troy, appear but are too cowardly to help them. He and Electra plot to kill Helen and abduct their daughter Hermione – however Apollo appears and dictates a pacification, explaining that it is Orestes’ destiny to be tried and freed at Athens and marry Hermione, becoming ruler of Argos.
Orpheus
a pre-Homeric poet. Assoicated with the expeditionof the Argonauts – his singing helped them resist the Sirens’ lure. He married Eurydice, who died – when Orpheus went to the underworld to revover her, he induced Persephone to let her go due to his music – however the condition was he should not look back at her as she followed him, which he failed to do and as such Eurydice disappeared forever. Later he was burdered and his severed head reached the island of Lesbos, the home of lyrical poetry, where it was buried.
Pallas
Title of the greek goddess Athena; also (i) a titan; (ii) a giant; (iii) an Attic hero; (iv) a hero who figures in the story of the founding of Rome; (v) son of Evander who is killed in the war against the Italians.
Pan
Greek god of shepherds and flocks. Has a human torso and arms, but the legs/ears/horns of a goat. Son of Hermes. Associated with the story of Syrinx and invention of the musical pipe.
Pandarus
in the Illiad, leader of the Trojans of the foot of Mount Ida. He breaks the truce by wonding Menelaus with an arrow, and is eventually killed by Diomedes
Pandora
the first woman, sent as punishment for Prometheus’ gift of fire to Earth. Each God helped create her by giving her unique gifts. She opened a jar containing all of the evils of the world. The myth is a theodicy – explaining the existence of evil in the world.
Paris
son of Priam (king of Troy). Menelaus (king of Sparta)’s wife Helen fell in love with him and they fled to Troy, bringing about the Trojan War. He is portrayed as affectedly bold but in reality unable to withstand the onslaught of Menelaus. Died at the fall of Troy from an arrow from Philoctetes bow (which had belonged to Heracles).
Parnassus
a mountain in Greece, seen as sacred and associated with the worship of Apollo and the Muses.
Pasiphae
wife of Minos (king of Crete), daughter of Helios (Sun). When Minos refused to sacrifice to Poseidon she was cursed with a passion for the bull to punish him. Subsequently became mother of the Minotaur (part bull, part man).
Patroclus
in Homer’s Illiad, the favourite companion of Achilles
Pelops
son of the Lydian king Tantalus. Founder of the Pelopid family. He was expelled from Troy. 2 main stories: 1) his father Tantalus killed him in a test of the gods, after which he was restored and granted an ivory shoulder (as Demeter had eaten this part). 2) Pelops bribed the king’s charioteer in order to win a race for the hand of Hippodameia. He reneged on his promise to pay the person he bribed and as such was cursed.
Penelope
in the Odyssey – daughter of Icarius of Parta, wife of Odysseus. She faithfully awaits her husband’s return from his 20 year absence – pretends she cannot remarry until she has woven a shroud, which she unravels every night.
Penthesilea
queen of the Amazons – she came to the aid of Troy after the death of Hector. She fought well but was eventually killed by Achilles, who grieved over her body.
Persephone
the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, snatched away by Hades to be queen of the Underworld. She could not be entirely released as she had eaten some pomegranate seeds – it was arranged that she should spend eight (or six) months of the year on earth, and the rest with Hades.
Perseus
legendary founder of Mycenae and the Perseid dynasty of Danaans. Beheaded the Gorgon Medusa, and saved Andromeda from the sea-monster Cetus. Son of Zeus, great-grandfather of Heracles.
Phaedra
daughter of Minos (the king of Crete) and Pasiphae, wife of Thesus king of Athens. She becomes ill, choosing to starve herself due to her amorous love for her son Hippolytus. Hangs herself, and lies that Hippolytus raped her – leading to his exile and subsequent death.
Phaethon
son of Helios (Sun) and Clymene. When he grew up he found his father who offered him a choice of gift – he chose to drive his father’s chariot for a day (despite Helios’ warnings) and fell into the river Eridanus. His sisters wept for hum until they were turned into poplar trees and their tears into amber.
Philoctetes
son of Poeas (who had been persuaded by Heracles to light the pyre which burnt him alive). On the way to Troy, he was bitten by a serpent and subsequently abandoned on the island of Lemnos. He was brought back to Troy after a revelation by the Trojan seer Helenus to Odysseus, and Philoctetes shot Paris thus helping to conquer Troy.
Philomel(a)
the princess of Athens, along with her sister Procne. Tereus fell in love with her, raped her, and cut out her tongue, but she communicated this to her sister via a tapestry. Procne then killed Tereus’ son Itys and fed him to his father. Afterwards, she was changed into a swallow (as she had no tongue).
Phlegethon
One of the rivers of the underworld
Pheobus
also known as Apollo. He represents the ideal of the ‘kouros’ ( a beardless, athletic youth). The son of Zeus and Leto, and brother to Artemis. He is the god of music, truth and prophecy, healing and medicine, the sun and light, plague, and poetry.
Phoenix
(i) The son of Amyntor, a king in Thessaly. His mother persuded him to seduce his father’s concubine due to her jealousy. In retaliation his father cursed him to be childless. He left home and was subsequently charged with the care of the child Achilles. In the Trojan War, he was one of the ambassadors send to propose Agamemnon’s reconciliation to Achilles. (ii) the ancestor of the Phonicians, king of Tyre.
Pierian
another name for the cult of the muses - it was said to have been brought from Pieria, a district of Macedonia (on the slopes of Mount Olympus)
Pluto
(i) a name of Hades god of the Underworld, meaning ‘the wealth-giver’ (as wealth comes from the earth. (ii) the name of a Titaness, mother of Tantalus
Polyxena
a daughter of Priam (king of Troy) and his wife Hecuba.
Polyphemus
a cyclops, son of Poseidon. He is portrayed in the Odyssey as one of a race of davage, one eyed giants. Odysseus destroys his eye.
Poseidon
the god of earthquakes and later of the sea. Associated also with horses. Brother of Zeus and Hades, whusbrand of Amphitrite. His son is Triton. The Romans identified him with the war-god Neptune.
Priam
son of Leomedon (king of Troy at the time of the Trojan war). Father of 50 sons and many saughters. Name became almost proverbial for someone who had seen the best and worst of fortunes (many of his sons have died by the Aeneid).
Procne
Philomela’s elder sister in the tale of Philomela and Tereus.
Procrustes
legendary brigand said to be the sn of Poseidon. He ensnared strangers before either cutting short their limbs or racking them to make them fit a bed. Thesus applied his own treatment to him, cutting off his head.
Prometheus
‘forethinker’ – a Titan, thought of as the champion of mankind against the hostility of the gods. Gave humans the gift of fire, as well as many arts and sciences. Punished by Zeus sending Pandora and her box to his brother, but also by having an eagle feed daily on his liver (until he was released by Heracles)
Proserpine/a
perhaps an Italian goddess of the earth, or possibly an adaptation of the Greek Persephone (with whom Proserpina in Roman religion was identified). Had a cult in Rome.
Proteus
a minor sea-god in Homer’s Odyssey, who: herds the seals; knows all thinks; can assume different shapes.
Psyche
‘Soul’. The woman who became Cupid’s lover after Venus’ jealous plot. Cupid placed her in a palace but forbade him to attempt to see her – she disobeyed him and left her. Psyche was distraught and sought out her lover – Venus created various superhuman tasks for her to complete, which she did with the assistance of natural forces. All but the last tasks were completed, as Psyche was overcame by curiosity and she opened the ‘casket of beauty’ which actually contained eternal deadly sleep. Jupiter, after being begged by Cupid, then assented to their marriage and they were brought to heaven. (often seen as an allegory of the soul’s union with the divine after death)
Pygmalion
legendary king of Cyprus who fell in love with a beautiful statue (who Ovid claimed he made himself), He prayed to Aphrodite to give him a wife resembling the statue – she gave the statue life and they married.
Pyramus
Pyramus and Thisbe were hero and heroine of a love story known by Ovid. The two lovers were forbidden by their parents to marry, but finally arrancged to meet at the tomb of Nisus outside the city walls underneath a white mulberry tree. A lion mauled Thisbe’s shawl, Pyramus thought her dead and killed himself, followed by Thisbe. Their blood flowed to the roots of the mulberry tree making its fruit dark red – their parents buried their ashes in a single urn.
Romulus/Remus
the sons of the Vestal Virgin, Rhea Silvia, and Mars, and twin brothers. They were abandoned to die in the Tiber, but survived due to miraculous interventions. They quarrelled whilst founding cities, and Remus was killed. Romulus then founded Rome.
Sabine Women
associated with the rape of the sabine women (though may be more correctly translated as ‘abduction’) – the first generation of Roman men acquired wives from the neighbouring Sabine families.
Salmacis
a rebellious/atypical nymph. She was vain and idle. In the Metamorphoses, she attempts to rape Hermaphroditus – the only nymph to attempt rape
Saturn
ancient Italian god who may have been a blight-god, but may also be a seed-god/god of sowing.
Satyrs
attendants of the god Dinoysus, boisterous creatures of the woods and hills – mainly of human form but with some bestial aspect (such as a tail). They are lustful and fond of revelry.
Scylla
2) originally human but transformed into a monster by a rival in love. Has six heads, each with a triple row of teeth, and twelve feet; 2) daughter of the king of Megara, who killed Nisus
Sibyl
general name given to Greek and Roman prophetesses
Sinon
a Greek warrior during the war with Troy, who persuaded the Trojans that the Trojan Horse was a gift – thus cementing Troy’s downfall.
Sirens
females who had the power to draw men to them with their song.
Sisyphus
: founder of the city of Corinth, the most cunning of men., Zeus sent Death for him, but Sisyphus chained Death up in a dungeon. Mortals ceased to die and so in panic the gods released death. Sisyphus again outwitted him and resumed his life on Earth, living to a great age, but when he died he was given the famous punishment of rolling a rock up a hill which always fell just before it reached the summit.
Sphinx
a monster usually depicted with the head of the woman on the body of a winged lion.
Styx
: ‘the abbhorent’ – the pirincipal river of the Underworld in which the souls of the dead were ferried across by Charon.
Syrinx
a nymph and follower of Artemis, known for her chasitity. Pursued by the amorous Greek god Pan, turned into reeds by the river nymphs as an escape, but then cut into a set of pan pipes by him
Tantalus
son of Zeus and the Titaness Pluto (‘wealth’). He married Dione, saughter of Atlas, and fathered Niobe and Pelops – he is thus the ancestor of the Pelopidae. He offended the gods and was punished in Tartatus by being eternally thirsty and hungry.
Tarquin
name of two of the semi-legendary Kings of Rome. Seen by some as tyrants, expelled by Brutus from Rome.
Tartarus
an elemental deity, son of Aither (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). Also describes art of the underworls where the wicked suffer punishment for their misdeeds, especially those who committed crimes against the Gods.
Telemachus
the son of Odysseus and Penelope – takes command of the house at the end of the Odyssey to fight against the suitors of his mother.
Tempe
the Vale of Tempe, where the Gods gathered.
Tereus
a Theracian king, who raped his wife’s sister Philomela. He then cut her tongue out and held her captive to stop her telling anyone. In revenge, her sister Procne killed Tereus’ son Itys and fed him to his father in a meal. Tereus tried to kill them both, but all three were transformed into birds – Tereus became a hoopoe.
Terpsichore
the muse of (choral) dancing
Thalia
the muse of comedy and idyllic poetry – her name means ‘flourishing’. Daughter of Zeus
Thebes
: 1) the principla city of Boestia in Greece, overshadowed only by Athens and Sparta. Seen by Sophocles as ‘the only city where moral women are the mothers of gods’. 2) Greek name of a city of Upper Egypt which became capital of Egypt around 2000BC.
Theseus
the national hero of Athens, son of Aegeus (king of Athens) or the sea god Poseidon. Became king of Athens and is credited for bringing about the union (synoecism) of the various Attic communities into one state with Athens as the capital city. Probably mythological, but believed by Athenians to have been one of their earliest Kings. Killed the Minotaur.
Thetis
in Greek mythology, a sea nymph or goddess of the water. One of the earliest deities worshipped. Achilles’ mother.
Thisbe
Pyramus and Thisbe were hero and heroine of a love story known by Ovid. The two lovers were forbidden by their parents to marry, but finally arrancged to meet at the tomb of Nisus outside the city walls underneath a white mulberry tree. A lion mauled Thisbe’s shawl, Pyramus thought her dead and killed himself, followed by Thisbe. Their blood flowed to the roots of the mulberry tree making its fruit dark red – their parents buried their ashes in a single urn
Thyestes
(i) a Roman tragedy by Seneca; (ii) son of the Lydian king Tantalus and founder of the Pelopid family. Two main stories about him – 1) his father killed and fed him to the gods at a banquet; Demeter ate part of the shoulder, but all the other gods detected the nature of the dish and brought him back to life, replacing the missing shoulder with an ivory one. 2) Pelops saught to marry Hippodamia, daughter of the king of Elis – he bribed Myrtilus, the king’s charioteer, so that he could win the horse race for her hand. However he reneged this bribe and cursed him leading to a curse upon his house. He is also known as Pelops.
Tiber
: the chief river of central Italy. Rome stood on its left bank.
Tiresias (aka Teiresias)
in Greek myth, the blind Thebian seer. Consulted by Odysseus in the Odyssey, and also figures in Oedipus Tyrannus.
Titans
in Greek myth, the oldr gods of the generation preceding the Olympian gods. Children of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth). According to Hesiod there were 12 Titans (6 sons, 6 daughters). When Zeus (compelled by his mother Rhea) forced Cronus to disgorge his other children, battle between the Titans and Zeus/his siblings ensued. The Titans lost and were imprisoned in Tartarus, guarded by the Hecatoncheries. (it is sometimes thought that eventually Zeus freed the Titans.)
